


Starting

by gingayellow



Category: Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Gen, Homelessness, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-19
Updated: 2013-01-19
Packaged: 2017-11-26 02:10:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/645393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gingayellow/pseuds/gingayellow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>[High school AU] Ryuuji knows his sempai doesn't have the easiest life, but one morning he finds out just how bad it is, and does his best to help. AU (Ryuuji is 17, Jin is 18), warnings for homeless teenagers and abusive/neglective parents.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Starting

Title: Starting  
Fandom: Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters  
Characters/Pairing: Iwasaki Ryuuji/Jin Masato  
Rating: PG-13  
Disclaimer: Not mine, anything mentioned here by name isn't mine  
Warnings: Homeless teenagers, abusive/neglective parents  
Summary: High school AU! Ryuuji is 17, Jin is 18. This is kind of a prequel to 'Jin Masato Saves Christmas,' but you can read this without reading the last one.

Ryuuji stifled a yawn as he continued to his school's computer lab. It was awfully early, but sempai would already be there-- for someone that took so many naps in class, he was quite the early riser. Therefore, it was the ideal time for them to work on their project. The robot hand was built, and could even flex a finger. If they kept at it, maybe it could flex two, or even make a fist--

"Hmm." The computer lab door was locked. Luckily, because of all the hours and work he and sempai had put in the lab, the staff trusted him enough to give him a key. It was odd though, usually sempai unlocked the door for them. Perhaps he'd overslept for once.

Ryuuji poked his head in the door, and sempai was snoring on the tiny couch. That wasn't strange.

... What was strange, however, were the uniforms drying on clothes hangers, the empty ramen cartons, and the shower caddy. It was like sempai was living in this room.

Then Ryuuji remembered sempai pretending that he wasn't fighting with his father when Ryuuji used to pick him up at his apartment, and then how he came here early and never walked Ryuuji home now, and how he was always tired and hungry lately, and Ryuuji hated himself for not seeing it before.

"Sempai?" Ryuuji placed a hand on his shoulder gently. "Sempai, please wake up."

Sempai's eyes bolted open. "It's just a power nap, I'll clean all this up!" But then he woke up properly, and registered Ryuuji. "Oh." He smiled sleepily. "You're not the principal."

Ryuuji smiled back. "No, I'm not." As sempai got up, Ryuuji took the blanket, folding it neatly. "Sempai, how long have you been," he tried to find a way to phrase this without sounding horrible. "Well, here?"

"Since late October." Sempai rubbed at his face before rummaging in his caddy for a hairbrush. "The old man finally got sick of me being a smart ass."

If that old man were here, Ryuuji would have struck him. Which was a little frightening, because he was hardly violent, but he was so **angry** that anyone would do this to their son. And sempai deserved so much more. "Why didn't you tell me that you needed help? Or anyone?"

"I don't need help, Ryuu-chan." His tone was light, but his eyes were shadowed as he changed into a clean shirt. "I do just fine here. I'm sneaky, so the janitor never notices me. I wash my clothes in the sink and take showers in the locker room." He wandered off to a water fountain to brush his teeth. "It's kinda like living in a college dorm."

"And how are you eating?"

"Because you're always sharing your snacks with me, duh!" Sempai thwapped him. "And Hoshikawa-sensei is making me lunches. And no, she doesn't know." Sempai took a sip of water to rinse his mouth, and rinse out the fountain. "But she's heard my stomach growling more than once, and I think she can guess that my cupboards are hardly full, so she's been feeding me since them." He started to put his things away, hiding them in corners and drawers. "I ration them out. Half at lunch and your snacks, then what's left for dinner."

"You can't live like this."

"Really? Because I've been doing it for about a month now, and--"

"I'm serious!" What Ryuuji was about to propose was unusual, but his parents were good people, and they adored sempai. They would agree. "Come live with me and my family."

Sempai's eyes grew huge, but then he ducked his head, trying very hard to smile again. "No. Ryuuji, I'm awful, but I'm not a freeloader."

Oh, for the love of... "Sempai." Ryuuji took him by the shoulders. "You're eighteen, and you're still in high school. You're vulnerable. And I have to do something; I've spent the last month going on about that-- that inane robot we're building while you've been alone, and homeless, and--" It was getting hard to breathe, so Ryuuji had to stop.

"Hey, Ryuu-chan..." Semapi smoothed down his hair. "I didn't expect you to do any of that."

"But I should," Ryuuji offered helplessly, scrubbing at his eyes. "I'm your friend. I should've known."

"Hell, you know I hate it when you cry." But sempai's own eyes were very bright. "Do... do you think your folks will be okay with me staying for a bit? Because they're really awesome, and I don't wanna piss them off."

"They love you." They were always sure to keep sempai fed and ask him about his projects. Truthfully, they'd all known sempai didn't come from a happy home, but it was just now that Ryuuji was realized how bad things had gotten. But now they were going to get better. "And you can stay as long as you want."

"Okay. But just until I graduate, got it?" Then sempai poked him. "And our robot hand is hardly inane."

"I'm sorry." But Ryuuji was still smiling. Things weren't perfect, and he wasn't expecting everything to get magically better. But now sempai would have a home again.

It was a start.


End file.
